The solar industry could light the way for domestic production in the United States, but there has to be a transition period, according to one energy guru.
Over the last decade, the landscape has changed “dramatically,” and the renewable energy space has become cheaper and more efficient, especially for solar, Yuri Horwitz told the Washington Examiner.
“Solar is now more affordable and certainly one of the more stable sources of electricity generation in the world,” Horwitz, CEO of Sol Systems, said on the Plugged In podcast.
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As the Biden administration and consumers cry out for greener energy alternatives, Horwitz said one of the best parts about solar is that a majority of jobs in the industry are within U.S. borders.
“So we’re buying energy that’s produced on our rooftops or in a field nearby,” Horwitz said, touting the industry’s ability to lead the charge on domestic manufacturing and help create more jobs in rural areas.
“And that energy is being produced from a project that’s being built by Americans in communities that need the economic development,” he added.
That has convinced even former skeptics to hop on the bandwagon and consider investing, including some of the largest banks, wealth funds, insurance companies, and even the government. But there are some hurdles to the transition.
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Solar modules currently rely on grid infrastructure and the global supply chain.
While President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act adds some transparency and funds that open the door for new projects and research on energy storage and valuation, it’s not enough to distance the country from the global market completely.
“I think everyone’s optimistic, but we have to recognize there are some critical challenges for our industry,” Horwitz said, adding that transitioning to a domestic supply chain is a future goal but one that won’t happen overnight.
“I think we need to all be open in the next three to five years to what we should think of as a transition period,” he said as one solution, “where we move from securing the vast majority of our solar globally from China to securing it from a more robust array of different countries.”
While outsourcing certain materials from allies, Horwitz said the U.S. can focus on investing in American jobs and the American supply chain.
“I think that if we try to make that transition too quickly, we just won’t build as much solar, and we will push pricing way too high,” he said.
Horwitz offered one other solution to keep costs low and consumers happy: working with the Biden administration to reduce tariffs and create a clear plan to invest in infrastructure here at home.
Plugged In, hosted by former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee and energy reporter Breanne Deppisch, brings on key players, from lawmakers to federal employees to industry experts, to keep our audience up to speed on the latest energy issues facing the country and the planet.
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